The UN has consistently declined to intervene in Gaza because Palestine is not a state and Gaza is a non-government terrorist organisation. But that is not good enough — peacekeepers are needed to keep civilians safe, on both sides, writes military ethicist Matthew Beard.

Could Egypt be doing more to broker a peace deal between Israel and Gazan militants? Rachel Williamson, freelance journalist in Cairo, says although Egypt used to support the Palestinian cause, its fear of Hamas has caused it to take a step back.

Both sides of the latest military conflict in the Middle East are spending big to defend their turf, despite promises from Israel to cut spending to pay for social reforms. Crikey intern David Donaldson reports.

A unity agreement between the two major Palestinian political parties, Fatah and Hamas, has been greeted with scepticism from Palestinian youth activists, writes Nigel O’Connor, a freelance journalist in Ramallah.

As Israel celebrates, and the world welcomes, the release of soldier Gilad Shalit, Hamas, the Islamist party controlling the Gaza Strip, has emerged with a significant victory in its push for Palestinian political supremacy, writes freelancer Nigel O’Connor.

Young men with strong social and family supports are far more likely to drop-out of terrorist organisations, says Michael Jacobson… before less-helpfully suggesting Israel should therefore recruit terrorists from good homes as spies.

A fascinating interview with Mosab Yousef, the Christian, former Israeli spy son of Hamas founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef, who has just released a tell-all book about growing up in the world of Islamic extremism.

A fascinating look at how Dubai police used “a mixture of high-tech razzle-dazzle and old-fashioned investigative work” to identify the spies behind the now infamous assassination of a Hamas commander.

Diplomatic relations between Israel and Australia are under new pressure, with news that three Australian passports were used in the Mossad assassination of a Hamas official. What now for Australia and Israel?

Lawrence Wright looks at life in Gaza, especially during the 2008 Israeli attacks, through the eyes of its young people. While Israel fights for the return of captured young soldier
“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilad_Shalit”>Gilad Shalit, many locals feel they are no less imprisoned.

A UN fact-finding mission has accused both Israel and Palestine of committing war crimes in Gaza, with the former shelling civilian hospitals with white phosphorus and the latter wreaking terror with rockets.